1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of protective coverings for the face, and more specifically to protective coverings for the face for use in connection with the application of hair treatments.
2. Background of the Related Art
Modem hair treatments often require the application of various liquid, aerosol, non-aerosol pumped, non-aerosol sprayed and/or powdered products to the hair. As these treatments are applied, recipients of the treatment often experience the undesirable side effect of incidental application of the liquid, aerosol and/or powder to areas other than the hair, including incidental application to the recipient's face. Such incidental application to the face may have the undesirable effects of: disturbing previously applied cosmetics; irritating skin and eyes; entering the recipient's mouth, where they may be ingested accidentally; and/or dirtying the user's face.
Various attempts have been made to alleviate this problem; however, none has provided a satisfactory solution. For example, U.S. Pat. No. D245,545 discloses the design for a one piece face mask with mask portion and integrated handle portion. The disclosed design includes no means for allowing fresh air to reach easily the user's mouth and nose, and does not permit any exchange of the mask portion with the handle portion. As a result, the mask portion may become dirty, damaged and/or otherwise caked with hair care treatments. If the hair care treatment is a hair dying product, the mask portion may become permanently discolored. In either event, the entire face mask would need either to be cleaned or discarded if cleaning were impossible or impracticable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,141 discloses a face shield with a mask portion and handle portion. The mask includes no means for providing fresh air to reach easily the user's mouth and nose, and provides no means for easily placing a new, clean mask portion onto the handle portion. As with the previous example, the entire face mask would either need to be cleaned or replaced in the event that the mask portion became dirty, damaged, caked with hair treatments and/or discolored from hair dyes and similar products, or, alternatively, the mask would have to be disassembled and then reassembled in order to replace the mask portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,801 discloses another face shield having both a mask portion and a handle portion. The handle portion is integrally formed with the mask portion. U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,196 discloses a face shield having a mask portion and a handle portion rigidly attached to the mask portion. These devices both have the common shortcoming of not permitting a user to easily change mask portions when a particular mask portion becomes dirty, damaged or otherwise unusable; instead, such replacement would require disassembling and reassembling the device if such were possible at all.
With these considerations in mind, it is desirable to have a protective face shield with a mask portion and handle portion wherein the mask portion may easily be replaced on the handle portion, thus eliminating the need to clean or replace entire mask/handle combinations as with devices having mask portions and handle portions integrally formed or not easily disengaged and re-engaged from and to one another.